King Kong is a giant ape who first appeared in the 1933 film of the same name. The character has become one of the world’s most famous movie icons, appearing in numerous sequels, remakes, spin-offs, imitators and parodies. In the original film, King Kong was brought to New York City from Skull Island and featured in a Broadway show before breaking loose and climbing the Empire State Building.
1. King Kong was originally going to be a dinosaur.
2. The stop-motion animation for King Kong took nearly two years to complete.
3. King Kong’s creator, Merian C. Cooper, was also a pioneering aviator.
4. The original King Kong film was almost completely destroyed in a fire.
5. The original King Kong soundtrack was lost for nearly 50 years.
6. King Kong’s head was originally going to be much larger.
7. The character of Carl Denham, King Kong’s creator, was based on real-life explorer and filmmaker Martin Johnson.
8. Some of the original models used for King Kong still exist today.
9. The giant gorillas in the 1968 film Planet of the Apes were inspired by King Kong.
10. In the early 1970s, there was a proposed live-action television series called King Kong Island that would have featured a giant ape as the main character.
11. The 1976 film King Kong was almost completely rebuilt from scratch.
12. The 2006 film King Kong was shot entirely in New Zealand.
13. Kong: Skull Island, the 2017 film set in the MonsterVerse, is not a direct remake of the original 1933 film.
14. The giant ape in the 2017 film Kong: Skull Island is not named King Kong.
15. There have been several video games based on the King Kong character.
16. In 2010, Universal Studios opened a theme park attraction called “King Kong 360 3-D” at their Hollywood location.
17. There are two official King Kong museums in Japan.
18. In 2005, a stage musical version of King Kong premiered in Australia.
19. In 2017, a virtual reality experience called “Kong: Skull Island — The 8th Wonder of the World” was launched at select Imax locations.
20. A number of real-life animals have been named after King Kong, including a type of monkey, a lizard and a fossilized dinosaur.